AppleTV screensaver not using all photos from selected album

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Dzegler2022 Author

Level 1

18 points

AppleTV screensaver not using all photos from selected album

I have a 4th generation AppleTV in my living room. My family has a shared album with ~2600 photos that we use as the screensaver. Since upgrading to TV OS 16, the screensaver no longer uses all the photos from the album- it only repeats the first (oldest) 50 photos.

I have read multiple threads here involving this exact issue. None of the recommended fixes work, or are even relevant (such as: “screensaver always had a limit of 100-200 photos so you have to play a slide show to see them all.” That is completely false.) I am posting this question in addition to everyone else’s to elevate it to Apple’s attention. This need’s to be fixed immediately as the holidays are approaching.

It is incredibly frustrating because this feature always worked flawlessly and effortlessly. It provided hours of entertainment just reliving old memories. This feature was the sole reason my family has not swapped to other smart tv devices. It appears Apple has not even addressed the issue, and that is very disappointing.

Apple TV HD, tvOS 16

Posted on Nov 6, 2022 6:45 PM

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Answer 1

vazandrew

Level 8

40,678 points

Nov 7, 2022 10:03 AM in response to Dzegler2022

Yes, it is completely true that there has always been a limit. The way the screensaver works is that when it is set up it is temporarily caching photos to be used for that function, and only a select amount of the storage is used for this. It will then require going back to setup a new screensaver in order to flush the previous batch and cache again.

This is not new, select users have had the question since TVOS launched in 2015. Also, this is a user forum so Apple will not be reading this.

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Answer 2

Dzegler2022 Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 7, 2022 6:30 PM in response to vazandrew

No. There is not a limit. That’s simply false. I know, and everyone else experiencing this problem knows, that prior to the upgrade the screensaver would show an entire album. This is evidenced by the fact that screensaver still works properly on my 1st generation ATV, which I did not upgrade.

The ATV4 used to shuffle through all 2600+ photos while the screensaver was playing- prior to the upgrade. Even with it set to the “Cascade” transition it would take a while to see a photo twice. Now when you put it on cascade there are multiple duplicates on the screen at once- and all from the oldest 50 photos.

This is a new problem directly related to the upgrade. Thanks for your feedback.

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AppleTV screensaver not using all photos from selected album

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